Friday

May 4, 2018 at 12:28 AMMay 4, 2018 at 6:51 PM

WESTPORT — The office of state Sen. Michael Rodrigues issued a statement late Thursday, calling on the senior chamber to “move forward” and “rebuild” after former Senate President Stanley Rosenberg resigned amid a sordid personal scandal.

Rodrigues called his committee’s recommended sanctions to limit Rosenberg’s leadership role as “severe, significant and appropriate” the day before Rosenberg resigned.

“As painful as this episode is, perhaps it was a small step in restoring people’s faith in government, and underscoring the importance of a free, open and accurate media in society,” said Rodrigues, D-Westport, in the emailed statement.

When asked in a phone interview how he could expect citizen confidence in government to climb in the face of the failures of the Senate’s top leader, Rodrigues said, “I hope people have confidence that when we see evidence of wrongdoing, we honestly and thoroughly investigate it and put an end to it.

“That’s what we did,” he said.

A legislator since 1996, serving in the Senate the past seven years, Rodrigues wrote that he was grateful to his committee members and the law office of Hogan Lovells hired in December to conduct an impartial probe of Rosenberg.

They were paid nearly $230,000 in April for 1,200 hours of investigative work involving 45 witness interviews.

Rodrigues was a close colleague and supporter of the former Senate president, and he made stops jointly with the former Senate president at The Herald News and other news outlets, while helping lead together a legislative delegation with dozens of area citizens to Ponta Delgada, Azores, in late April 2015 for the restoration and re-dedication of an early 19th century Jewish synagogue in ruins, built after the Inquisition in Portugal was disbanded.

Asked about that relationship, Rodrigues said there were others, including the Senate minority leader, who worked closely with Rosenberg.

“He still means a great deal to us,” Rodrigues said.

He said that was why it was essential to hire an independent investigator to overcome both the appearance to people’s perceptions of sweeping wrongdoings under the rug and that the actual investigation had integrity.

Rodrigues said the bipartisan committee received no investigative information from the hired firm from December until April 25, when they received the 77-page report. It was rare such a civil report with scathing evidence against a legislator’s leadership has been made public, he said.

Despite prior relationships while Rosenberg continued as a senator, he had “no substantive” conversations with him.

“I guess I was just very disappointed,” Rodrigues said of the evidence presented that he's "still processing."

“Today, we accepted the resignation of Senator Stan Rosenberg,” Rodrigues’ statement said. “As a body, we must now move forward, rebuild and ensure that the Massachusetts state Senate is an institution that respects its members, staff and anyone with business before it, and safeguards against harassment and assault of any kind.”

Email Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com or call him at 508-676-2573.